RUINS OF XICOCHIMALCO 



247 



object at Xico Viejo. When the idol wa« visited it had bananas upon 

 it; these were offerings latel}^ placed there, which would indicate that 

 belief in the power of the idol i.s not wholly extinct in that neighborhood. 

 This idol is a plinth of hard black rock about i feet high with a human 

 head cut on one end. This head (figures 45, 46) has ehiboratel}^ 

 carved ear pendants and a peculiar nasal ornament, the latter being- 

 found likewise in an idol of the Plumed Snake found near Jalapa 

 Viejo. On the back of the head there is a rabliit's head under a cii-cle 

 {ce fock/i, one rabbit), possibly' the date of the foundation of the town. 

 The inhabitants of moder 

 Xico have a legend that the 

 pueblo, the ruins of which 

 they call Xico Viejo, was 

 founded by the immediate 

 predecessor of Moctezuma I. 

 A second plinth, almost 

 identical with the other in 

 form and size, lies on the 

 ground near the idol, but 

 this stone shows no evidence 

 of having been carved on its 

 end, although such carving 

 may exist on the under side, 

 the object being too heavy 

 to be turned over. 



Stone Idols Near Xico 



There are in the neighbor- 

 hood of Xico several stones 

 with carved idols upon them 

 that may be mentioned in this 

 connection. Among these 

 are two that bear upon their 

 surfaces figures of animals 

 cut in higli relief, evidently 

 reverenced l)y the ancient 

 inhabitants of that rea-ion. One of these (figures 47, 48) is sculptured 

 on a bowlder in the middle of a cornfield near the railroad, a few hun- 

 dred feet beyond the station at Xico. It represents an animal with 

 human head, the limbs extended as if grasping the rock on which 

 it is cut. (Plate fviii.) 



The other stone (plate cvii) is found on a hillside near the station 

 Fuente, a short distance from Xico. The figure on this rock is a gigan- 

 tic serpent represented as crawling out of a spring. This figure 



Flu. 45. Stone idnl at Xii- 

 Viujd. ( Front view. ) 



Fn;,4(;. Stono idol iit Xi 

 Vifjo. (Back view.) 



